Awari Mugen Fleeting Dreams
by tinkerchu
Summary: Momo and Kurama have finally been united after so many years. But what new problems do they have to face as they play it as humans? Follows canon storyline. In a Revision stage.
1. New Branch

**Hopefully this is the last time. Welcome to my numerous rewrites that I never seem to finish. This sadly, may seem incomplete and or lacking sufficient detail. ****Now before you read, there are details I think I prefer to leave out due to the way I like to do things. I do a horrible job of introducing things. Long story short, I think I may just jump into things this time and see where I fall. **

**Now, there is a beginning to this story, but I have decided it is too long to write and I may never finish it. There are snippets scattered. If you want to see what happen before she moved to Japan, there is prequel and it is kindly sorted in the HMC/Hakusho crossover. The reason why it would not get sorted there now is because there is little to do with that universe in the first half of this story, though the same characters and some of the same rules do apply. **

**To answer the usual questions first, my OC is a demon(cat preferably) who used to work alongside Kurama. Yes, they did have a very romantic relationship for the most part. Yeah, my character did decide to kick the bucket after Kurama was killed because she is a horrible survivor and has resurfaced as a human after all those years. I am totally beating a dead horse for now but this is the only angle I have ever work on for the last 7 years. **

**To answer other questions, please refer to my other work, Mono no Aware. It will only answer the before part on why they decided to move to Japan. It sorta involves a certain Black Book Club member, and I do include quite a lot in the latter part because I like how he is oh so sinister. ****I will stop talking now. This is probably keeping you from doing other things now, I apologize. **

* * *

New Branch

It was always a nightmare waking up. She was still experiencing those sensations of jet-lag which made reality even more daunting. She got up and look at herself in the mirror. Her face still looked dead tired from a sleepless night.  
She forced her body to put on the crisp school uniform she just picked up the other day from the uniform shop. Momo looked at herself in the mirror one more time with a sickening look on her face.  
She was not used to the whole uniform look. Her old school had not uniforms in secondary school.  
But Meio Academy? Her father sure had high expectations. He seemed to have scouted fr the best middle school in the area that would get her in the exclusive school next year.  
She quickly tried to fix her bedridden hair before going downstairs.  
She found her father making breakfast as usual. The stench of the house was still fresh. It was pretty new and was located in a nice part of the neighborhood.  
"So tell me why we moved back to Japan?" she asked leaning on the counter.  
"I told you about that job offer," her father said checking his watch again. He was all suited up and ready to go to work. "I couldn't believe it when they said they would transfer me. I used to go to Meio Academy before I went aboard you know."  
She raised an eyebrow skeptically. Something she did often now living with her father. Plus this was the infinitive time that he mention that. Ever since mother passed away last fall, it has been a constant speculation. It made sense since her mother was the breadwinner in the family, so since the accident her father retried from stay-at-home dad and decided to dust off his degree that mounted in the corner for as long as she could remember. Moving closer to home was just an added bonus for Mitsuru Adachi. His mother was getting older, and she was almost at that age where she might possibly have to move in soon.  
"Gotta go," she said grabbing her lunch that she prepared the other night.  
"What about breakfast?" he asked.  
"I'll grab something on the way," she yelled down the hall putting on her shoes.  
"You know this isn't like the schools over in England."  
"I know Dad!" He just had to constantly remind her, but she didn't seem to understand. It is not like she hasn't been to Japan before. Well maybe only a few times, just to visit grandma.  
She started to run to down the street when she realized she was going to be late. And on her first day!

The school gates were dawning on her. When she got closed enough she halt down to a walk to catch her breath. She had enough time to get to her first period without being late.  
It was a normal two story building and the architecture differ a little from her old school. As she walked in to the halls she noticed the obvious cliques. Not much difference there.  
Someone then snickered at her.  
She looked around to see if it was directed at someone else, but it wasn't.  
"Hey, you need to change your shoes," said one of the girls in the hallway.  
"Oh right..." she walked back to the shoe lockers. So that's why she had to buy two pairs of shoes for this uniform. Her old school didn't have one plus they didn't care about 'indoor shoes.' She found the lockers for her class and quickly changed in to the other shoes.  
_I guess we don't get regular lockers here either. _She thought as she dropped them in a empty box. _  
_Her classroom was easy enough to find. When she walked in she encountered way too many stares. _Is it because of my hair. It is natural and all, but I guess it's a strange sight. _  
"Who's the new girl?" she lightly overheard. Her Japanese was still a bit rusty but she was catching on back to old habits. She faced forward though not really caring of their curiosity.  
Not that she wanted to be anti-social. But then again she didn't have a lot of friends growing up because of her oddities.  
"Excuse me, is that your seat?" someone asked her in a perfect dialect. She moved her attention on the boy in front of her.  
"Um, I don't know. I just sat here."  
"Then you must be new. You should probably go talk to the teacher first."  
"Oh..." Everyone was staring at her now. "Sorry."  
She silently gave up her seat to the boy. Something she would have correctly label a geek where she was from with that hair and glasses.  
Heading to the door to go to the teachers office she ran in to another one of her new classmates.  
"Oh my god, I'm sorry," she told him.  
"Not it's alright," he said with a smile. "It was my..." he stopped talking to look at her.  
She looked at him the face. _  
Wow, what gorgeous eyes, so green...  
_"Um, I have to get to the teacher's office," she stated seeing as all the boy can do is gawk at her.  
She slide past him and went down the hall.

"Good morning, class," the teacher greeted them. Momo stood right beside here. "We have a new transfer student today."  
The teacher was quite young looking, usually the teachers back at her old school were old and crinkly. She look to Momo expecting her to say something.  
"Want to introduce yourself?" the teacher asked her.  
"Yeah...I'm Momo Adachi. Please treat me kindly," she poured out very gracefully. Something she practice since she knew she would have to say it.  
A student near the back raised their hand. "Where is transfer from?"  
"England. So that's why my Japanese may seem off."  
"Are you saying you never been to Japan?"  
"That's enough class. Miss Adachi you can sit in that open seat by the window," said the teacher ending the introduction.  
Relieved that she finally could sit and be removed from the spotlight she gladly took it.  
Breaks came and go, and they still stayed in the same classroom. That quite perplexed her.  
_At least I won't have the trouble of roaming the school blindlessly not knowing where I am going._ _It also means I'm stuck with these people whether we like each other or not.  
_And during those breaks the people around her tried to strike conversations with her.  
"Were you really born in England?" someone asked her.  
"Are you really half-Japanese?" another one say. They always seemed surprised when she told them. Like foreigners were rare.  
She ceased all communication thus after wards. During lunch she sat by herself. A few more curious people approached her and few wandered in from different classes. It seemed she was gathering quite the popularity from the male crowd. After she was done she still had like twenty minutes left till lunch was over.  
She figured she would try to find the bathroom first and then do some random exploring.  
_Ah...a library. _Not many students were in there providing it a safe haven.  
Wandering in the fiction section she stumbled across some comic books all of them in Japanese. Instead she found books in actually English and wandered around them until she found some Jane Austen. While she was browsing she heard a book slam on the floor.  
She bend down to pick it up glancing at the title briefly. _Through the Looking Glass..._  
"Your book?" she said to the boy in the aisle with her. It was the green-eye boy again with the short red hair.  
"Um yes," he said a bit timid taking it back. "Thank you."  
She went back to her book browsing. The boy was still present looking at the books as well.  
"Excuse me but..." began the boy. She stared at him blankly waiting for him to ask her another question that she most likely have already heard.  
"I think you're in my class."  
"Yes, I am," she reaffirmed. She was kinda hoping for a bit of silence in the library.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't get to introduce myself earlier. I'm Shuichi Minamino."  
"That's nice," she feign smiling as she looked away.  
"I'm not bothering am I?" Him seemed to caught one too fast.  
"Just a little." She waved him off practically.  
He got the gesture right away and turned the other way.

Back in the classroom, Momo suffered the rest of her first day. She realized that Shuichi's seat was not far away from her. More disturbingly she realized she wasn't the only girl watching him, in fact should would say more then half were staring at him.  
_I mean, he isn't that bad looking. He probably thinks I'm some rude foreigner now.  
_Surveying the rest of the male population in her class she realized she was being stared at by some of them.  
_Creepy... _  
The bell rang catching her out of her daze. Grabbing her stuff she high-tailed it out of there. Almost forgetting about the shoe situation she one-eighty herself in the school yard back inside to change them.  
Upon walking down the street dodging her classmates she saw the red head again walking ahead of her.  
_Does he seriously live in the same neighborhood as me?  
_She stayed a good distance behind him. She didn't have the courage to apologize to him. Upon further investigation it seemed his house was only on the next block from her. It wasn't uncommon for most of the residents on these streets going to the same middle school as her.  
Her father was still at work. Something she was extremely used to.  
Settling down in her new room she started to unpack her things slowly.

Within the next week she feeling like she was getting used to the school. Minor cultures differences kept catching her, but she was quickly getting those Japanese legs back. Though she was finding herself in the library more often then she should. Bet it wasn't just the familiarity of being surrounded by books that drew her there.  
"Hello," she said seeing the red-hair, green eyed boy again. He was sitting at a table reading through some heavy text.  
"Hello again," he said glancing at her for a second then returning to his studies.  
"Um, sorry if I was...rude the other day."  
"Completely understood." Closing the book he got up to put it back on the shelf. She followed him all through the stalks. Somehow the feeling wasn't mutual. "Is there a reason why you're following me?"  
"Well I thought..." She watched him pulled a book off the shelves about gardening. "You know..we could...maybe..."  
He stopped her nonsense rambling.  
"You know there's plenty of other guys here interested in you." Those words took her off guard.  
"Excuse me? I wasn't trying to ask you out. In fact I was only-"  
"Gain a study partner?" He cut her off again. "I am not resign to talk to the only girl that would walk in to this library either. Many other girls tried to get my attention that way too. I seemed to have distracted them from studying."  
"You're just full of yourself, aren't you?"  
"I think it's more then being that," he smiled as he walked away.  
_Is he being serious? _His utter refusal to her attempt to be friendly was backfiring and quite frankly she was feeling more attracted to her classmate then she wanted to. Even if he was being quite smart with her.

The only times she was able to catch him alone was in the library. And he wouldn't even look at her anymore. Other then that she found him being stormed by random girls every once in awhile. Though he didn't seem to be enjoying the attention at all.  
She found the difficulty was all the same with her as guys started to approach her.  
_How annoying_, she started down the hall towards the girls lavatory. Her only safe haven in the school besides the library. At the sinks she found another problem encountering her.  
"I noticed you have a interest in Minamino-kun." She watched in the mirror as one of her classmates vacant a stall.  
"And what if I do?"  
"I'll tell you right now, I would give up. He never takes an interest in any girl. You would only get your heart broken."  
She realized the girl was not trying to be mean at all but offer serious advice.  
"Is that so?"  
The girl nodded. "All he does is spend his time in the library with his nose in a book. Have you noticed his the top student here in this school?"  
_Of course not, I have only been here a week._Though hearing this kind of information was a bit heart dropping, it only made her want to know more about him.

A week passed without anything interesting happening. She had somehow become centered in to a clique, something she never seemed to manage before. Instead of being a shew she decided to embrace the new change. Even the girl she met in the bathroom was part of the group.  
She started to slowly forget her classmate and enjoy the normal life of a high school girl.  
Until...  
"Huh, eighty-seven," she said glancing at the score boards for the last exam. She had ranked in the top ten in her class so she felt pretty stroked.  
"Good job," she heard behind her.  
"Thanks," she responded without realizing who it was.  
"Maybe next time..." he said. Startled that he was talking to her now she checked for his name on the board to see if the rumor she heard was true.  
"So do you always make No.1 on the test scoreboard?" she interrupted him.  
"Well I must try hard."  
"Does it include being a self-centered prick?" She turned around getting lost in the crowd from him. She didn't even need to see his face to know that she struck his delicate ego.

"So what did you say to Shuichi in the hallway?" one of the girls in her group asked her as they gathered in a circle for lunch.  
"Nothing, why?" _Gossip travels too fast here. _  
Apparently her conversation in the hallway was witnessed nearly by the whole grade level.  
"For some reason, he's still in here," she whispered over to her. Looking behind her where his seat was, she found that he was still there and not in the library where he usually wandered over to around lunch time. He was quietly reading a book in the same style, alone and undisturbed.  
"He keeps looking at you."  
"I think you really said something that bothered him."  
_Did I really? _She raised an eyebrow deciding best not to disclose that for sure.

Upon reaching her shoe locker that day she found a very curious intrusion there. Someone had left a note there on top of her shoes and it was accompanied by a single red rose.  
Now many thoughts went through her head before she can dawn on a conclusion here. She knew that any one of the guys here could have left it, but most just leave a note. Very seldom does she see anything else especially a flower with it.  
Opening the note she found that it was very short and had yet to prove anything short of a love confession.  
_Meet me in the library today at four._

Seeing as there was only thirty minutes to the appointed time to meet her so call "secret admirer," she ventured back upstairs to the library. Who would leave a rose if they weren't declaring love?  
She felt like a dummy standing in the library at this time waiting for someone to show up. What if this was some elaborate prank being pulled. Was he really cruel enough to stand her up?  
Though she was a bit harsh herself. Looking around, the library was empty. There was only one person left in here, the boy who she almost stole his seat on the first day.  
He was differently one of those shut-in types.  
The boy got up ready to leave. Thinking maybe it was him who left the note, she prepared herself for a second. Though he didn't look like the romantic type that leaves roses in shoe lockers.  
She sighed a relief as she watched him leave.  
_Maybe I am being stood up, _she thought looking up at the clock.  
Deciding that this was a lost cause, she turned around.  
"Sorry, I'm a bit late."  
"When did you get in here?" Looking around she was sure there was only one entrance into the library. Was he waiting in the stalls?  
"I was making sure we were alone."  
"Tell me, are you accustomed to leaving roses in girl's shoe lockers?" she asked flashing the red flower in front of him.  
He seemed amused by her response.  
"Only if I know that she wouldn't mind."  
"What is it that you want?" she wanted to get to the point with him.  
"I know what you may be thinking. That I only called you here to confess something."  
"Well, did you?" She waited for it.  
"Yes, but it may not be the undying love one you seem to be expecting."  
"Then what?" Her expression turned sour.  
"Momo," it was the first she actually heard him use her name and addressed so informally. "I don't know why you're here. Maybe it's best if one of us leaves."  
"What are you talking about?"  
"Then you don't know that it's me," he sound relieved for a second as he sat down in a chair. She stared at him confused.  
_Maybe there is something wrong with him..._she thought.  
"Are roses your favorite flower still?"  
_Wait, how did he know?_  
"Who are you?" she asked him.  
Looking around to make sure they were alone, he answered her question.  
"Kurama."  
She then did something he didn't expect. Dropping the rose she turned around and ran out of the library.  
"Momo, wait!"

_There's no way that's Kurama. _She thought quickly pulling on her shoes. Everyone else in the school have left. The man she had thought to be still dead after all these years. Though the possibility of him to be still alive like she was did cross her mind. But she knew the chances of actually running in to him again was slim.  
_I can't believe he saw me before I did. Maybe I was being drawn to him for some other reason though.  
_As she was walking home thinking about what just happened, she didn't realize that he was following her. Remembering that he lived in the same neighborhood had slipped her mind. It was not until he came up behind her and took her arm did she stopped again.  
"Momo, can we please talk about this?" he pleaded.  
"No, I can't do this right now."  
"We can't keep ignoring each other then."  
She realized he was right. They had already caused a small scene. An elderly woman was glancing in there direction.  
"Can you come over right now?" she asked. They were only a few minutes from her house.  
He nodded as he followed her.  
"Are your parents alright with this?" he decided to ask in the entrance way.  
"Don't worry about it. He works late all the time now."  
"What about your mother?"  
"It's only my dad and me now."  
"I see," he followed her to the kitchen getting the slight hint to drop it.  
"You can sit down," she said motioning to the leather cushions in the living room.  
"Thank you."  
She grabbed a couple cups from the cabinet as she walked to the fridge to pour some cold tea.  
_He's too polite to be the Kurama I used to know.  
_Handing him his cup she joined him on the couch.  
"I'm sorry about the situation I must have left you in. I didn't mean for it to happen in that way."  
"Are you just trying to reconcile?" she asked sipping her tea.  
"I didn't realize that something had happen to you, so please forgive me for the informality. Please tell me you didn't..."  
"No," she answered flatly guessing he was referring to suicide. "There was some complications you probably didn't expect after you supposedly died." She fell silent and so did he. He was expecting a bit more response from her. "I saw Yomi again."  
"Yomi? What did he want?" His voice fell flat.  
"I don't know. I went back to the hideout after you were gone and he was picking through your crap."  
"I see. He didn't say anything else about me?"  
"No," She looked at his face. He seemed too calm about this bit of information. "I think he might have been the one to put a bounty on you, but that's it."  
"I didn't have a doubt about that," he said not sounding the least bit surprised.  
"I don't want to know." She blurted out not believing that he was confirming the suspicion she had for nearly the last fifteen years. "It was probably over something stupid, wasn't it?"  
"I admit, when you invited me in I didn't think you would corner me about this."  
"Well, what are we suppose to say to each other? To tell you the truth, I was fine when you were ignoring me."  
He set his glass down. "That probably wouldn't have gone well for too long. I'm sure you would have noticed eventually."  
"Yeah, about that. How did you know so quickly?"  
"You're not hiding yourself well. You're a walking magnet practically. I'm surprise you haven't been accosted by some random demon already."  
"Are you saying you can tap in to your powers already?"  
"Just spirit energy, but I can still mask myself. Have you not been able to?" he seemed a bit worried about that and surprised.  
"No," she shook her head. "I mean, well...maybe sometimes." _ I feel like I'm being held back. _

"We can work on that." There was little comfort in his words.  
"So, I'm allow to stay?"  
"Obviously, I can't really tell you to go away. You seem quite rooted where you are." He stood up and when he did he looked out the back door. "I can't really tell you to move either."  
She followed his gaze and quickly put two and two together. "Is that your house?" She bitterly snapped for a second. He nodded, somewhat amused at the coincidence.  
"Just to clarify something, we are both different people right now. We might have had some kind of relationship in the past, but it doesn't mean anything right now. I might still have some feelings for you, but I don't think it would be wise to act on them right now. I'm sure you might be feeling the same as well."  
"Yeah..." she replied. "I don't mind being platonic then."  
"Good." He smiled. "I knew you would understand."

Within the next month their classmates seemed to realized the new changes around them. It was clearly evident that two of their classmates were harboring a secret relationship which seemed to upset some of the female population at the school. There was no other explanation for this, why else would they see the school prince talking to the same girl everyday?  
It got to the point where she started to avoid the library but even that wasn't good enough.  
Momo still hanged out with the friends she made but some of them were starting to give her the cold shoulder. In the end she was only able to keep half of her new friends, even though she repeatedly told them the rumors were false. In the end, Kurama didn't mind the petty gossip, it seemed a lot of the girls avoided him thinking they definitely did not stand a chance.  
Hanging out with Kurama who always spent his time studying pushed her to study as well. If she wanted to continue on to Meio like he was. Though her father was slightly pushing her in that direction anyways. It was something to brag about to his fellow coworkers at the company.  
Though compare to Kurama's average, which was always the highest, Momo had only manage to improve herself in to the top five. Never really been able to beat him, but the real deterrent was the boy that always came in second. Momo couldn't compete with him, nonetheless strike a conversation. It was always the black curly head kid with the glasses in front of her reading his book and that was where he always sat.  
"Hi," she said one day to him.  
He refused to look up from his book.  
"What book are you reading?"  
He glanced at her.  
"The literary theory."  
"Oh. Fun." Not really. She smiled anyways at him though he didn't return the gesture. _What an ass. _  
School slowly started to become a drag. School events were always boring. Momo tried to have to have some fun. She planned a lot of outings and time around Kurama but it wasn't something he seemed to enjoy. She knew that it was the situation surrounding his mother in the hospital that always held them back from even having a regular friend. He seemed to get more secluded each time her returned from a weekly visit.  
But those weren't the only change that she noticed. He decided to grow his hair out, which was alright with her, but he was getting better at manipulating his spirit energy. He was slowly regaining a control over plants like he used to. But no matter how hard he tried to help her develop her spirit energy it seemed to not get better. It was starting to look more and more hopeless.

"You will have to be able to do something by now." He said agitated as he looked out slide glass doors. His expression frowned as he looked at a heap pile of broken clay pots. "Besides breaking all my pots, that is."  
"Well, I'm sorry. I'm just not as fortunate as you are." She snide as she set some tea down for them."I'm not sure what the problem is."  
"I think you know what the problem is." He hinted quite profoundly as he sipped his tea. She glared at him. "You don't believe me, do you?"  
"Of course I don't." She replied curtly. _Months of training and all I can do is lower my current energy level. _  
"You definitely have potential, with all that energy, but you need to find a way to focus on something."  
"I don't know what you keep pushing this on me, its not like we are being attacked everyday."  
"I know." He said tired of this. _I just think I would feel safer knowing that you can._


	2. Fire Demon

**So here's a chapter 2! I changed this one a bit, I just hope I didn't fizzle it. Sorry if it seems a bit rough, I still need a beta to look over it. Plus some of the plot dynnamics changed. I figured it would make more sense if Kurama had already met Hiei before Momo, it would relate more to canon. **

* * *

Fire Demon

She found herself eager to go home that day which was quite unusually. She didn't even feel bothered to stop by her house since she knew no one was there waiting for her. Why didn't Kurama tell her sooner about this demon? Instead he waited till today during last period to tell her in the form of a note. She waited eagerly watching the time tick away on the clock before the last bell rang.  
Besides Kurama, she hasn't seen another one of their kind yet for a very long time. She remembered vaguely at one point Kurama mentioned that he has seen other demons in the area. Some of them not really friendly or smart. She wondered what made this demon so different from the others.  
And then of course, Kurama decided to skip last period. Something very unbefitting of him.  
She ran around the block till she reached his doorstop this time she rang the doorbell in an annoying fashion. In which he was compiled to answer it quickly.  
"You know it's unlocked," he added. "Plus I'm surprised you didn't jump through the backyard this time."  
Shaking past experiences when she actually did jump the stone wall dividing their two yards she preceded to pester him.  
"You are a real prude you know. Where is he?" She eagerly looked around for any signs of the creature.  
"I knew you were going to ask. He's up in my room."  
"So...it's definitely a he?"  
She went ahead of him to find only that his door was shut.  
"Now wait a moment." He grabbed her hand off the doorknob and blocked her from going in. "I have to tell you something first." She looked at him waiting. "This isn't the first time I have met him. After our first encounter, he used to check in regularly."  
Her mouth gaped opened. "And you didn't bother to say anything?"  
"Well, he did disappear for about months on end. I wasn't going to get your hopes up for nothing. He showed up last night."  
_Last night? How was it I didn't notice?_  
They lived within yards of one another!  
Her senses were getting dulled, and it was suddenly dawning on her. Kurama opened the door and she latched on behind him.  
There he was. What the entire fuss was about in her existence at this moment. He was sitting on Kurama's bed looking out the he seemed to be ignoring their presence. When the door slammed shut he turned around and stared at them. After a few minutes he resumed staring out the window realizing they were no threat to him. Or at least the girl wasn't.  
"You can let go now," said Kurama trying to brush Momo's hold off of him so he can take a seat at his desk. It was piled with the usual mundane homework. Apparently it took priority.  
"Who's this?" he demanded looking Momo over. Somehow he seemed bothered that there was another person in the room. Up till then it was only the fox and now it seemed he had told someone else about him.  
"Momo, this is Hiei. Hiei, meet Momo," answered Kurama trying to get pass the formality part. "I think you may have heard about her."  
"Momo?" his tone sounding slightly amused. "Then you weren't lying when you really said that you were Kurama."  
"Well, as you see that's no longer the case," said Kurama.  
"I had my suspicions when we fought the first time, but I was highly doubtful," he explained. Instead of trying to hide, Momo decided that it was safe to stand a little closer to the Hiei.  
"So why did you two fight?" Momo asked. He ignored her question. She tried to move closer to him as well, but she was only might with a threatening gaze.  
He didn't seem to like her anywhere near him.  
"Um...sorry," she said. _Why am I a__pologizing? _She refused to move despite the threatening vibes she was picking up.  
Kurama sensed the tension quickly forming. Somehow he felt that the kind of friendship he was hoping to create between his two colleagues was in fact not very welcoming. He felt maybe it was best not to test the waters around him but his curiosity got the better of him.  
"He thought I was someone else." Kurama answered for her.  
"So, Hiei," Momo continued, "Where exactly are you from?"  
"That's none of your business," he started to get up making right now a good time as any to make his escape from them. Apparently he did not like to be questioned.  
"Come on, you can't even tell us that much?" Momo seem to tease him.  
Kurama stared at her. _You shouldn't be so forward..._though the message wasn't getting across. Instead she seemed quite bewildered on how short Hiei was when he was attempting to make a pass towards the door. Momo didn't even seem to realize that she was in her way.  
"Urgh..." she stumbled out almost intimidated by his hypnotic stare. He was putting her off edge again with his cold staring. "What's your problem?" She blurted out.  
"Hmph," he tossed his head away from them. "You two make me sick."  
Kurama and Momo both looked at each other then back at him. Though Kurama did not seem too surprised by this new development.  
"How can you live like this? Doesn't the thought of breathing the same air as these creatures disgust you?"  
"It's more of a survival situation. We don't really have a choice," pointed out Kurama.  
"If you hate humankind so much, then why are here?" Momo asked him.  
"To destroy it, obviously," was the answer he gave. "But it seems it's barely worth my time." He didn't look back once as he opened Kurama's window and jumped out.  
"He'll come back." Kurama said closing the window after him.  
"You're kidding, right?" She tried to look outside in the yard, but there was no sight of Hiei. Her tone was the least bit happy about that possibility. They fell silent for a couple minutes.  
"I can't believe he told us off for the way we live. Like he would ever understand," Momo pointed out the main thing that was bugging her.  
"I think it's more of an issue that we don't understand what he sees."

The next morning, Momo got up at her regular time to greet Kurama at the street corner on the way to school. The morning started out dry for some reason. She had a irking that Hiei was still wandering around in the area, and apparently Kurama had the same idea. When she gathered up the courage to ask him, he would only ignore her.  
It was when they were walking home together did he stop in his path. Something lurking nearby caught his attention. It was in the nearby tree.  
"What is it?" Momo looked up to. Hiei was sitting in that tree looking down upon the two of them.  
"So I see you have taken a habit to stalking." Kurama noted. His frank remark caught Momo by surprise.  
_He was stalking us all day? _  
"Though I couldn't say I found it very entertaining," he jumped down on to the concrete to join them.  
"You didn't notice?" Kurama asked Momo.  
"Not the slightest."  
"Like you were very interesting to spy on," Hiei told her. "Without him around, I probably would never consider you a real threat."  
"Excuse me?" she raised an eyebrow deciding if she should take that as a direct insult.  
"You sound like any other female in this filthy place. And you're deadweight" said Hiei. Kurama released a heavy sighed as he continued forward without the two of them. Realizing she was being left behind she quickly caught up.  
Hiei didn't seem to mind much. In fact he wasn't following them at all.  
"You seem to be going off on a good start with Hiei." Sarcasm was all the rage in his tone.  
"Hardly."  
"You do realize I can hear you two," said Hiei. He had somehow appeared magically in front of them, like the white rabbit. But he was cloaked in black of course.  
"What are you still doing here?" Momo asked.  
He fell dead silent and ignored her. Seeing as they were within yards of his house, Kurama decided he should at least offer. Why else was it following them?  
"Would you like to come in, Hiei?" he invited.  
Another silent response was all they needed when he followed the two in.  
"Hey!" Momo practically shouted down his throat as he passed her by the front door. "You need to take your shoes off!"  
One quick death glance from him later.  
"Uh...never mind then," she gave a half-hearted response. She turned to Kurama and whispered: "Are you seriously going to put up with that?" Kurama then insisted to her that things were different for him and no one probably taught him proper mannerisms.  
_That is__ not an excuse!_ Somehow it seemed Kurama was defending him though she has not yet witness the terrifying feats that this guy was capable of. Maybe it was best she wasn't.  
They found Hiei up in Kurama's room sitting cross legged on his bed. That was where he decided to take off his shoes as they were lying on the floor there.  
_For hating humans so much, you sure like that bed a lot. Didn't think they had one o__f those in demon world. _  
As Kurama placed his books on his desk and sat in his chair. Momo grabbed the extra chair in the corner and brought up to Kurama's desk. Somehow Momo found it very hard to concentrate on the homework. It seems he was staring at the two the whole time though watching the two of them doing homework shouldn't seem the least bit exciting.  
"What's wrong?" Kurama asked finally seeing as her pen had not moved for the last five minutes. He didn't seem to be bothered by the eerie stranger that was on his bed.  
"Nothing at all," she smiled. It was a weak attempt.  
Looking between the two he seemed to find the bridge here. He realized that he would have to say something sooner or later.  
He could reason with Momo, but Hiei was a different matter. This fire demon seemed obstinate as ever. Though he was sure that there was more to him than this.  
And it seemed they were at odds with one another. Momo couldn't stop staring at him. Even if she thought she was being sneaky about it.  
Hiei tried to ignore it but it was getting to the point where he couldn't take it any longer. "Can you stop? You must be one of the most annoying creatures I ever seen."  
She looked away embarrassed with nothing really to say. _Kurama should have finished his ass__._  
"Is that right?" responded Hiei.  
"Is what right?" What was he referring to? He grin which only made the situation scarier.  
"I think he's a telepath," Kurama seemed to put out blatantly.  
"What do you mean you think?" She scoffed. "What else can he do?"  
"I'm not entirely sure yet."  
_So that means, he's been reading my mind the whole time? I hope he wasn't listening during school..._she stopped in a train of thought.  
"No," replied Hiei. He was again making commentary on her thoughts. "I was not listening in to your little fantasies about Kurama."  
She stared at him. Her face flustered, either out of embarrassment or anger, it was hard to determine. "Why don't you listen to him instead? Am I really that entertaining?" She pointed at Kurama throwing him under the bus.  
"No you're not. Plus if you were anything like him, you would be better at concealing yourself. Like right now."  
"I don't have time for this, I'm going home." She grab her bag and headed out of the door furiously.  
"Momo, wait!" Kurama followed her out of the room. He was able to catch her at the door. "You don't have to go."  
"Then tell him not to invade my thoughts then," she paused lowering her voice, "especially when they are very private like that." He smiled, getting the hint.  
"You can block him out. You just need to practice a bit more."  
"It's always about that isn't it? Maybe I'm just not good enough."  
When she turned she noticed that Hiei was standing in the hallway.  
_How did he get there so fast? __He wasn't there a moment ago. _  
"Hiei," said Kurama. "Are you leaving already?"  
"Yes," he replied. "Do you mind?" He stared at Momo. It seems she was too close for his taste. She leaned back in to Kurama. Before anything else was said, he vanished out the door.  
"This may sound a bit pretentious, but maybe it's best that you don't make enemies with him." Kurama smoothly stated, but it feel on death's ear.  
"Huh. I'll see you tomorrow then."  
"You're going home?"  
"Well, aren't you going to visit your mother today?"  
"Yes, your right," he seemed touched that she remembered his daily routines now. She opened the door and walked down the sidewalk. It was only a block away to get back to her house, but she felt uneasy walking it._  
__Maybe I should have gone through the back__ door__ again..._  
She then noticed Hiei not far ahead of her.  
"Can you do me a favor?" she asked him. He silently stared at her with those amber eyes of his. "Can you please not read my mind anymore?"  
"Why the hell would I want to in the first place?" he said.  
_Well, if you did once, you will probably do it again._ She seemed frustrated. She knew he was listening in while she and Kurama were in class, so why wouldn't she think he would do it again? It wasn't making any sense at all. Unless he's only aim was to spy on Kurama. Surely, he didn't have to spy on her.  
Hiei disappeared in the opposite direction and Momo disappeared around the block. Kurama watched from the front window, starting to get frustrated at the current situation. Though now he was thinking it was quite silly. His thoughts about the recent events quickly left him. It was time to go see his mother again at the hospital.


	3. Amber

**Another short chapter~**

* * *

Amber

Hiei watched Momo enter her house. At the same time he noticed Kurama leaving his house again to see his human mother. It was a routine behavior everyday to go to the hospital for him. Not that Hiei cared, but he thought it was a waste of time for Kurama to even bother.  
Even though, the Youko Kurama was somewhat fascinating to him, Hiei couldn't resist. There was something about this girl that he couldn't quite understand. And he felt like he had already studied the fox's behavior quite enough already in the past months.  
He heard stories after all. Youko Kurama, and his partners in crime. Momo being one of his fairly known acquaintances, till the end of his reign. Rumors also stated that it was also because of this woman that his reign came to such an abrupt end. Whatever it was, he did care too much about that. There was nothing really exciting about her to merit that trait. Kurama must have had a fool's heart to see something in _that thing. _  
In fact, if Kurama had never mention it he wouldn't even have noticed her in the area. How he was able to detect her, he didn't have a clue. Plus, the fox had changed from the last time he had seen him. He even decided to grow his hair out.  
Lying in a tree not far from her house he reminisces about the other day when she walked in to the room. He remembered clearly what she was going on in that dumb head of hers.  
_But she knew to perceive with caution with me,_ he thought. _I'm not dealing with lower class demons here. I should remember for later.__  
_Broken from his trance, he heard distinctive shouting coming from nearby.  
"What do you mean you're going to be late again tonight?" He heard Momo's voice from inside her house. She was yelling at someone. But he knew she was the only human in the house. He found that like the fox she was left alone in her home a lot as well. Something he didn't expect humans did to their offspring. He decided to look farther.  
With his Jagan eye he was able to see her standing in the hallway talking into some kind of device. He knew better that it served as a type of communication here.  
"Okay..." She talked in to it. "I see." She slammed the receiver down. Fuming she walked upstairs into her room slamming the door then too.  
_H__n_, thought Hiei. _I wonder what that was all about._  
She sat on her bed cuddling with a stuffed animal. "I hate that stupid man," she muttered to herself. _Really, what guy leaves his daughter home alone all the time? Seriously...__And then there's that stupid..._ she thought. _I can't even begin to understand his problem._  
Hiei smirked when he saw his face in her mind.  
"Amber..." she muttered. He remembers her mentioning his eyes on more than one occasion now since they have met. She was unable to quite staring at him because of that reason. And it annoyed him.  
_I wonder what he is really hiding behind those amber eyes of his_, he heard her again. _I want to know..._

Momo woke up the next morning in a slightly better mood. Though there seem to be something to damper her mood still.  
"Is it that bad?" she asked over the phone.  
"Don't worry," she heard a cough. "I'm sure I'll be fine by tomorrow. It seems to be just a cold. I probably caught it at the hospital."  
Kurama seemed it would be polite to call then have you walk over to his house waiting. It seemed yesterday he had caught a small bug at the hospital.  
"Make sure to take good notes this time," he added remembering a time earlier when he asked her to the same. The results of asking her to take notes was not what he had expected.  
"Sure thing."  
"Oh, about Hiei," she froze on the other side when he said his name. "If you see him today, don't do anything reckless. In fact, it would be better if you don't even notice his presence. I'm sure that won't be hard for you."  
"What do you mean by that?"  
"I have to go. I'll see you later." He hung up the phone before she could answer. It seemed he didn't want to get in to an argument. She slammed that phone back on the receiver.  
As she walked to school she kept an eye out for the little man but she soon forgot about it receiving a text from a friend. She proceeded to text back while walking forgetting about him. So what if he thought everything they did was an abomination. She was quite enjoying this easy lifestyle.  
"Where's Kurama?" She jumped when she heard that voice.  
"Don't sneak up on me like that!" She yelled at him. There was absolutely no sneaking involve since he was standing right in front of her.  
"Well, maybe if you didn't let your guard down."  
She started walking again bypassing Hiei ignoring him. But much to her dismay he started to follow her and it was quite indiscreetly. _What the hell? Why is he following me?__ I hope no one sees. _  
"He's sick today, alright?" she said getting annoyed that he was still around. "That's what you wanted, right?"  
"How pathetic." Apparently he was not happy that Kurama was sick today. But if that was the case, he could just visit him in his own time. Why was he still following her?  
"Well, I need to go to school. See ya." She started to sprint the rest of the way. But that wasn't able to shake the fastest man alive.  
She stopped dead in her tracks and glared at him. "Stop following me!"  
"Tell me this, why do you even bother going to this school thing? "  
"Well apparently you don't understand how this world works then. And I don't know why you would bother chasing me down to tell me this."  
"It seems like a waste to me."  
_I kno__w he wants nothing to do with me.__ I hate how Kurama thinks we should try to get along._  
"I don't see what he sees in you," he said looking away. "And to think I was trying to be nice. But I see that you're not interested," he turned away about to disappear.  
"Wait." She grabbed his arm. The contact threw him off a bit. He was holding back right now with hitting her straight in the face but he knew there were witnesses nearby. "What are you trying to say?"  
"Seeing as I've took an interested in your fox, I just thought maybe I might as well get to know his partner better," he said. He didn't want to look at her but he knew she was smiling. Plus he didn't want her to catch on to his true intentions. It seems at this point he would do whatever it took to get what he wanted. Even if he had to play nice.  
"I guess that's alright, but I really need to go to school. Can you meet later like you did yesterday?"  
"Whatever."  
Momo turned back around and got on the track back to school.  
"Don't forget either. I won't give you a second chance."  
"Neither would I." He said walking in the opposite direction.


End file.
